Authors, Listen to the Chatter about Using
Interesting Content to Increase Your Following and Build Relationships.
Interesting content is very
important in increasing your following on Social Media and forming
relationships. Here is what some of our Spotlight Authors have to say about
networking.
1.
Use Interesting Content
Ellie Campbell
@ecampbellbooks
22300 twitter followers
- Spotlight Interview
Ellie Campbell (Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell, sisters) collaborate
to write Contemporary Women's Fiction.
We’ve made good friends through
Twitter and our following has definitely increased since we started retweeting
favorite photos and interesting or useful articles from other writers and
bloggers – we like to keep it fun as well as informative. At the start our
Ellie Campbell Facebook page was mainly about us, our books, offers,
promotions, giveaways, but these days we also share funny stories, animal
videos, anything that makes us laugh or that we feel strongly about.
Downside is, there’s a huge amount
of fascinating articles out there and it can suck up an enormous amount of time
if you’re not careful.
Emma Jameson
@msemmajameson
1953 twitter followers -
Spotlight Interview
Emma is the NYT bestselling
author of the Lord & Lady Hetheridge series and the Dr. Benjamin Bones
Mysteries.
I enjoy interacting with readers
on Facebook, and I think many new readers have discovered me through my
Facebook fan page. On Twitter, I’ve interacted with perhaps ten separate
readers since day one. My hypothesis is, cozy mystery readers generally don’t
use Twitter to discover new authors or fatten their TBR list. They use it to
converse, have fun, and post reactions to current events. So now that’s how I
use Twitter. I post pretty pictures, I live tweet my favorite shows, and I
retweet fun stuff and interesting links.
Robin Mahle
@RobinMahle
3106 twitter followers - Spotlight Interview
Robin is a bestselling Mystery
and Suspense Author. She is an author of the Redwood Violet Suspense series.
Social media is certainly a
challenge and I do struggle to stay on top of it. As far as building a
following, I work very hard at the relationship aspect of Twitter. I think the
best way to gain followers is to engage other users, talk to them, makes your
posts informative and interesting. I rarely ever tweet about my books unless
it’s to inform of a new release or a temporary sale. I’m not one to spam my
followers with links to buy my books. I think that makes a difference.
Sometimes I get annoyed when my timeline is filled with advertisements. I don’t
think I’m quite as good at staying on top of my Facebook page posts, though.
That is strictly fan-based and I only want to put interesting information on my
wall and to be honest, the life of a writer isn’t all that interesting, right?
Well, not my life, anyway? I do truly enjoy replying to the readers though. I
get so excited when I get comments.
Cricket Rohman
@CricketRohman
5230 twitter followers -
Spotlight Interview
Cricket is the author of the
Lindsey Lark series. Cricket writes Fiction, Mystery and Romance novels.
I have a love/hate relationship
with social media. I love being able to connect with so many wonderful people,
but it takes time and focus away from writing. Having only a little over two
years’ experience using social media, I learn something new every day with
regard to how it all works. My debut novel launched in 2013, since then I’ve
been striving to make my Internet communications interesting, informative and
fun for my friends, my followers, my connections, my readers.
2.
Build Relationships and a Following
Vered Ehsani
@VeredEhsani
3642 twitter followers - Spotlight Interview
Vered is a Fantasy and Mystery
Writer. She is the author of the Ghost Post Mysteries, Dragon & Myth and
the Society for Paranormals series.
Social media is a funny business.
I've been at it for a few years, and what I've learned is that people should be
where they are comfortable. For example, I have far more interaction with
readers on Facebook and on my website than on Twitter. And yet I never set out
to use Facebook in that way. I just hang out there, find interesting articles,
see cute cat photos etc. I think building a "following" is really
about building sincere relationships.
Gary Haynes
@GaryHaynesNovel
76700 twitter
followers - Spotlight Interview
Gary is a Thriller writer &
lawyer. His first series features Tom
Dupree, a special agent in the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
If I just used it to push my book
that wouldn’t work, so you have to tweet interesting content that attracts
like-minded users. I tweet about geopolitics, terrorism and the writing life.
I’ve also found my Facebook author page and Goodreads to be useful social media
tools, as well as my website. I make a point of always replying to readers no
matter how they contact me. It’s about building relationships and being honest.
I don’t use forums or newsletters, because there is only so much time, but I do
actively use social media on a daily basis, partly to stay visible and partly
because I enjoy the interaction.
Michael G. Munz
@TheWriteMunz
2898 twitter followers - Spotlight Interview
Michael is the Amazon
bestselling sci-fi/fantasy author of Zeus Is Dead and The New Aeneid Cycle
series.
As for how I built my following, I
started with following some fellow geeks that I know in real life, and then
doing searches on Twitter for various sci-fi/fantasy topics and following those
people as well. I tried my best to actually engage with the people I
followed—otherwise why are they going to spare some attention for me?—and
eventually it snowballs. The most important thing that I try to remember is not
to just tweet about my books. After all, if all I do is shout “Buy my books!”
and don’t say anything else that isn’t funny, interesting, or otherwise
engaging, then why would people want to follow me?
Maria Grazia Swan
@scrittrice
4405 twitter followers - Spotlight Interview
Maria is a Suspense and Mystery
writer. She is the author of the Mina's Adventures and the Lella York series.
Oh, how I wish that was the case.
I'm a social media virgin. No joke. My twitter account grows only because I
tend to re-tweet things I find cute or sweet or interesting. I'm not sure how
it works but it does. Some days I open my email to find that I have 10 new
followers..again, I'm thankful. I post a blog on alternate Tuesdays and I try
to talk about stories from my childhood.
Just to make sure you know that's
all based on real life events, I even have lots of old pics, including the 3
story house I was born in.
J.T. Lewis
@JTLewis_Books
3244 twitter followers - Spotlight Interview
JT is the bestselling
author of The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Series and the The Pepper and
Longstreet Series.
I am a big believer in offering
something of value to my readers however…value added content much as you do
with here on your blog…something that isn’t necessarily pushing your writing at
them constantly (see above). While I don’t do many interviews on my blog, I
have been doing a ‘Quote Of The Day’ for a few years now, as well as posting
funny or interesting information. I am also a big believer in using any
automatic links available so that any post gets spread throughout as many other
forums as possible.
It all comes down to being an entertainer…because after all…isn’t that the essence of why we write stories?
It all comes down to being an entertainer…because after all…isn’t that the essence of why we write stories?
END
An important key to an indie
author’s success is to increase your following on Social Media and forming
relationships by using interesting content in your posts.
By James
Moushon @jimhbs
Indie Author Chatter Posts
HBS Author's Spotlight http://bit.ly/QVEMix
The blog's
purpose is to help authors get exposure in the book publishing industry. He has
interviewed and showcased over 900 authors to date.
HBS Mystery Reader's Circle http://bit.ly/19Nfrx8
The HBS Mystery
Reader's Circle provides information about the latest novels and what is coming
next from a collection of Bestselling and Outstanding Authors in the Mystery,
Thrillers, Historical Fiction and Crime genre.
Indie Author's Corner http://bit.ly/TauYkJ
Indie Author's Corner http://bit.ly/TauYkJ
The Corner is a collection of
Author advice, ideas, experiences and studies including Marketing, Social Media
and other major topics created to help writers in today's ever changing world
of book publishing.
Authors: Improve Your Twitter Messaging and Control - http://bit.ly/1FHB1oR
Melissa Foster - Developing Social Media Relationships - http://bit.ly/1qhhR3j
Troy Blackford - Using Social Media to Connect with Readers
- http://bit.ly/1on7Nk8
Paul Western-Pittard - Importance of Social Media
Relationships - http://bit.ly/1p2ppTE
Laurel A. Rockefeller - Importance of Twitter and Social
Media Relationships - http://bit.ly/1B74epm
